TRI-CITY: SUIT SEEKS TO INFRINGE ON RIGHTS

The Tri-City Healthcare District is arguing in court that a citizen’s lawsuit against the agency is a “strategic lawsuit against public participation.”

The anti-SLAPP motion, as it’s called, was historically used by citizens against governments that were trying to squelch their free-speech rights. Experts say some courts have allowed governments to make the same argument about citizens.

Carlsbad attorney Leon Page sued Tri-City in state court in December, saying the public agency is disenfranchising voters by excluding elected board member Randy Horton from closed session meetings. Tri-City says Horton has leaked confidential information from such meetings.

The lawsuit originated in state court and has moved to federal court.

“Mr. Page is trying to prevent the Board from protecting the rights conferred by the Brown Act to keep confidential certain matters, regardless of the sensitivity of that information or the inappropriate or unlawful conduct of a Board member,” the district said in a prepared statement.

The court will consider the motion April 19.

Page said he doesn’t believe the district will prevail in its action, because a state code exempts the type of lawsuit he filed from the SLAPP statute.